citynet | @moment

I see the contradiction, but it should be said anyway.

well, it is an easy way to reach everyone.

maybe we should look into organizing some kind of city meetings. still risky but maybe a little bit less

Agreed. We can't completely eliminate risk, but we need to share information somehow.

You think we should meet then? To actually try to set up something like this?

Yeah. Let's meet.

[ But how to set that up on an insecure network... ]

If we specify a set location, that's opening it up to observation. But it could be a chance to catch surveillance in progress. What do you think?

well we can't exactly organize a secure way to talk since we only even know of each other through this. unless you happen to know shyriiwook or geonosian. and the people behind this happen to not know shyriiwook or geonosian. both of those would surprise me.

so I guess the best idea is just to do it that way.

...I have an idea. I'll tell you in person.

We could rendezvous at the apartment complex and proceed from there.

Roger roger. I'll go there now.

[R0-GR leaves his communicator in the base he's set up for himself in one of the apartment buildings. He considers, as he makes his way to the large cluster of apartments, that the whole thing is a bad idea. He's putting a lot of trust into someone who used the network to say that the network is untrustworthy. After all, most would probably already expect the network to be untrustworthy, at least Roger thinks. It would be a very small risk for whoever's behind the city to admit that, under the guise of a fellow captive of the city, as a trap.

This might dissuade Roger from going, if he could think of a reason to create such a trap. It's no secret that no one here wants to be here, so it's unlikely to be some ruse to root out dissent, dissent would be omnipresent within the City. It might be some gambit to discover true threats to whatever scheme is behind the City, but the true threats aren't going to be the ones gullible enough to fall for something like this.

And so Roger is forced to admit, within his own mind, that he is among those gullible enough to fall for such a trap.

After about a half-hour, Roger appears at the apartment complex. Although normally his plating is enough to cover him, today he's evidently tried to disguise himself somewhat. He appears wearing a greenish-grey leather jacket, jeans, and a hollowed-out black backpack he's wearing over his robotic transmission pack, although unzipped just enough so that two thin antennae can stick out behind him. Underneath the jeans there is the silhoette of a large knife stapped to his otherwise very thin metal leg, and more subtly concealed in the inner pocket of his jacket is a smaller knife. Still, for all this effort he makes to disguise himself, underneath the hood of his jacket it's still fairly clear that he's a long-faced robot, just standing around in the parking lot of an apartment complex.]

[ Setsuna too knows he's taking a risk, but risky decisions are simply in his nature. If all goes well, it'll be worth it. If it doesn't go well, he'll manage. That's how he's always done it.

From one of the apartment windows on a higher floor, Setsuna watches Roger's approach. There's something strange about his appearance, though from this distance, it's hard to say what. Setsuna exits the building and approaches him in the parking lot.

It's not until he gets closer that he notices that Roger appears to be a robot. A brief look of surprise crosses his face, his usual stoic expression settling back in almost immediately.

He makes a mental note of the large knife's silhouette. ]

Are you "b1-of-a-kind"?

That's me. [Both in the sense that that is indeed his username, and in that it describes him, or so he thinks: the one-of-a-kind B1 Battle Droid. A more cheerful way of saying that he's the last one.] So you're "Moment?"

[ He nods. ]

Setsuna F. Seiei is what I'm really called.

[ An alias given to him that he accepted as his real name. Setsuna, meaning moment.

The coast appearing clear and their identities now confirmed -- Setsuna choosing to take Roger at his word -- he gets down to business. ]

Just like usernames obscure our identities, code phrases can conceal the meaning of our words. If one of us found a way out, revealing it over the network would jeopardize the escape route. For things like that, those of us brought into this city should have a way of conveying information only we understand.

I'm really called Roger, short for R0-GR. [Roger takes off his jacket's hood as he introduces himself. He registers that Setsuna means the same thing, due to the languages downloaded into his mind when he entered the city so that he could understand everyone.

He can only assume as Setsuna simply describes his idea that Setsuna didn't bring his communicator either, as it would be weird for someone to be the first to realize the network was untrustworthy but still trust the devices themselves.]

I'm familiar with the concept. [He had been part of a galactic rebellion, which made heavy use of secrecy and espionage, especially in its early years. He knew very few of the actual phrases used, although he knew he'd accidentally used one by happenstance and by doing so interrupted a clandestine operation just trying to buy oil.] It's a good idea, but how do you know you can share them with everyone here? There's like a hundred people here, if you give everyone every code phrase, someone might give them all up. [Roger is under no illusion that he himself wouldn't, under pressure. Even assuming they didn't just rip the information out of his memory banks.]

I do have something specific I can offer, though. [He points at the antenna sticking out of his backpack.] My own communications technology.

[ Setsuna's communicator is safely(?) left behind in the apartment room where he'd been waiting. If they were to be tracked, the communicators would be a good way to do it. ]

There's no way to guarantee that nobody gives them up, or reveals them by mistake. No secret is one-hundred-percent safe.

[ He knows this well, as a person who's been responsible for impulsively revealing classified information... ]

If that were to happen, we'd need a contingency plan.

[ Setsuna gives the antenna a pointed look. Maybe the makings of that plan are right here. ]

How does your tech work?

What do you mean contingency? [As far as Roger's concerned, finding ways to communicate privately is important, but not worth contingency plans getting too drastic. He wants to make sure there won't be killing or memory erasing to protect these secrets, so his tone is somewhat suspicious.]

The transmission pack can send signals at faster-than-light speeds across the- a galaxy. It's complicated and advanced, and I doubt I can get much use out of it here or make another one with the tech available. But that's not what's important. [By way of demonstration, he detaches his arm, before using the disconnected arm to open and close his fist and flex his elbow, before hooking it back up to his body.] I have transcievers all throughout my body that just send basic, quick radio signals. I put them in so I could control parts of my body even if I got sliced up. Since I got to the City, they've only been operating at 20% speed, but I bet I could make more.

An alternate set of code words if the first set is jeopardized. Or the use of these transceivers, if you can make them. The more options we have at our disposal, the better.

[ ...And just to make sure he's clear: ]

Don't worry. I'm not going to harm anyone for the sake of secrets.

[He doesn't respond verbally to the assurance, but does notably relax upon hearing it.]

I'll find out if it's possible.

Even if I can, though, it'll take longer than this city-meeting and code-planning stuff. [With what Roger knows about himself, he'll have to plan for the event where he fucks up and accidentally destroys multiple prototypes in seperate incidents. Probably a building too.] But I'll start as quickly as I can.

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